EM-10 : very first impressions

Received my new EM-10 yesterday, a black and silver one. I purchased body only, since I had offered my wife the m.zuiko 12-50 for her E-PL2 and she doesn't use the 14-42 3.5-5.6 or 40-150 (4/3 with adapter) anymore. So I have two lenses which, even if far from being the best of the bunch, suffice for the moment.

Well, after having handled it just a few and having taken several pictures, it confirms everything I have read about it :

- That little thing is a cutie, combining a vintage look with something very modern

- Build quality is excellent : it's small and light and at the same time has enough heft to provide the feeling of having something really well-built in the hand

- And yes, it's small : placed side to side with my E-30+14-54, the difference is, to say the least, schocking. I'm an average guy (1,77 m or around 5feet 9 inches) with average hands but there's no way it feels too small, at least as far as I'm concerned

- Menus, often described as disconcerting by people who are not used to Olympus menus, have for me the great advanatge of being completely consistent with what I already knew on E-500, E-30, E-PL1, E-PL2... They're just slightly refreshed (some items are colored, the font used for the menus is more modern and very nice) but all in all, Olympus users will find their way very quickly into the menus

- Buttons and wheels are easy to use and provide a good feeling

- Now on to the EVF : I was used to the (very good) VF-2 but we are here in a different league. I've heard that it's not as good as the one on the E-PM1, but it's nevertheless very pleasant to sue

- And the great novelty for me is the touchscreen : of course, I'm used to that, as anybody who has used a smartphone, but had never focused and taken a picture at that speed.

And here I come to the two things that amaze me the most for the moment :

- The focus speed (via shutter or touchscreen) is lightning fast, really. So much so that often, I was thinking that it was too fast to have focused properly and take a sharp picture

- I was wrong : those 16 Mp pictures with the very modest 14-42 seem sharper than the 12 Mp pictures of my E-30 with the wonderful 14-54

Well, that's about it for the moment, but only (very) good news so far. The only thing I've noticed is that often debated "noise" of the image stabilization, that many people had noticed with the E-M5 : it's still here, but you can set IS on "Auto" which means that you'll hear that noise only when the IS is really needed. The fact is that I never hear it with pictures taken at normal shutter speeds.